Our third face to face meeting hosted by Liam and Rose was a success! We held it at Merivale Maccas and everyone that came along got some free fries – NICE!We had 6 people attend and had an awesome conversation about various youth affairs that lasted for 2 HOURS! Many important issues were raised and creative ideas discussed for the future of our city…One of the biggest points of interest was the disappointment that university fees are rising – one of the biggest agreements was that the government should support those going to university instead of making students pay more, especially in other countries where students are actually paid to attend university! This doesn't encourage tertiary study and can hold students down.In terms of the ‘5 year plan’ for Christchurch some points made about this was that there is a lack of youth thinking and voices being heard in the plan for our city's future. People also agreed there was lack of future planning about the huge problem of climate change and this needs to be addressed.In regards to public transport, everyone agreed it is currently poor. One of the main concerns is that people feel unsafe on the buses, especially at the bus exchange and during the evening. People also thought that buses are due for revamps and the schedules need to revised to be more convenient. Many students that use the buses also said that there are poor bus connections.People thought that the precinct plan is okay, but divides up the community. One idea everyone thought would be great is to have a green space where young entrepreneurs can sell goods to the public in a communal area. People could set up stalls and it would be a vibrant way to join the community together and create awareness. The dance pad that was in Christchurch a while ago was very popular and someone suggested that we have more of these sorts of ‘interactive’ things in the design, such as how to eat healthy and other educational tools! People also thought implementing communal gardens would be a great environmentally positive idea and also rooftop gardens. People were excited about the street art and wanted to see this more of these types of innovative initiatives.Homelessness was a big concern two particular teens that attended our meeting and everyone agreed. People said that more employment opportunities need to be created and that the new law ‘banning’ homeless people is disgusting. In the future designs of Christchurch someone suggested designing buildings that will shelter homeless people. One way to raise awareness of homeless someone commented is to implement educational programs in school and community drives to help these people and make others aware of the issue.These are some of the main areas of concern that arose but also some new ideas that came out of our meeting such as the entrepreneur green park, communal gardens and rooftop gardens. Also using education as a tool to raise people’s awareness of homelessness.What a lot of awesome information we drew out of some passionate members of our society, but let's think: what are we going to do about these issues? How are we going to make our voices heard?With the help of the Christchurch Youth Council, YOU CAN make your opinions heard – so come along to our next meeting and let us know what you think.